President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office has confirmed that the much-anticipated cabinet reshuffle will be announced on Monday.
Vincent Magwenya, the president’s spokesperson, said the president – who is currently under the weather – will announce the new executive at 7 pm on Monday.
Magwenya criticised the media for weeks of speculation on the changes to the new cabinet, saying the president had never set a date.
“While he is still nursing his common cold, the president is finalising his reconfiguration of the national executive,” Magwenya told a media briefing on Sunday.
“There have been parliamentary processes such as the swearing in of certain members of parliament that the president needed to consider while he is finalising the formation of the executive.”
The cabinet reshuffle also allows the president to reconfigure the structure of the government.
Most importantly the president will concentrate on the energy crisis which manifests itself through load shedding that is costing the economy over R1 billion a day and impacts the lives of every South African.
The reconfiguration in the energy cluster will see Eskom being moved from the Department of Public Enterprises to the Department of Minerals and Energy.
The president will also announce a minister of electricity, a de facto project manager to coordinate all efforts to manage load shedding and manage the government’s response to the electricity crisis.
A review of the political oversight at Eskom will help fast-track the over R300 billion recapitalisation of the entirely state-owned power entity.
This will also lead to the implementation of the R155 billion Just Energy Transition from heavy reliance on coal to renewable energy sources.
The complex oversight structure at Eskom includes DME minister Gwede Mantashe, DPE minister Pravin Gordhan, Parliament, the presidential National Energy Crisis Committee, the Board of Eskom, the CEO of Eskom and the yet-to-be-appointed Minister of Electricity.
More restructuring of the government is expected to further strip the DPE with Transnet expected to be relocated to the Department of Transport.
These are all in line with resolutions of the ANC 55th National Conference held in December 2022.
Ramaphosa has been under pressure to implement resolutions of the ANC conference and appease alliance partners Cosatu and the SACP, both unelected bodies that demand to have ministers in the cabinet.
Pictured above: President Cyril Ramaphosa
Image source: @PresidencyZA
